In a fairly surprising move, 2K Sports has announced that NBA 2K14's soundtrack will be curated by none other than established noise musician, Dominick Fernow (of Prurient, Vatican Shadow, et. al.). The longstanding video game franchise, which had a Jay Z-curated soundtrack in its 2013 incarnation, went with the Hospital Productions head largely because of his diverse and unique musical background. The game's reps commented that "[they] were hoping to connect not only to their existing fans, but also to other demographics. Some people were turned off by Jay Z's hip hop-heavy soundtrack, and [the game's creators] know that there's a large population of disgruntled, white teenage boys who would prefer to hear noise music as their avatars take it to the hoop."

Well, maybe this isn't so suprising. Consider the fact that Yeezus has left an indelible industrial mark on the mainstream, and the cluttering noise that characterizes much of Fernow's music would, at this point, actually not sound too out of place on Hot 97. Not to mention that with the increased emphasis on recognizable beats in noise music, there's a necessary tie-in to the hip-hop and EDM that one usually finds in popular video games. There's an intrinsic link, too, between the raw, virile emotion LeBron James exudes during a game and that which one might see coming from Fernow at a Prurient show.

The entire tracklist for the game is yet to be revealed, but the press release says that Fernow handpicked over twenty songs to play underneath the game's high-octane virtual basketball action. And, according to 2K's website, we can look forward to "a mixture of old and brand new songs by Boyd Rice, Pharmakon, Sewn Leather, Alberich, Jason Lecalleet, and many more." Extra reason to be excited: a post in the 2K Sports forum also hints that some Hospital Productions artists-- such as Sickness, Lussuria, and Mike Connelly-- will be unlockable players, available in the game's 1-on-1 mode. Who would have thought we could ever see whether or not Dominick Fernow can post up King James?